A Different Hunger

by Lila Richards

  “Hush, darling,” Rufus murmured, his voice gentle and reassuring. “You’re free of her now, and that’s all that matters.”

  But Serafina was unable to stop. “She wants Anton, Rufus, and she thought I could lead her to him. I tried to tell her I don’t know where he is. I even let her into my mind so she could see I wasn’t lying, but she’s determined to find him, no matter how long it takes. She’s been after him for four centuries, now.”

  “And that’s why Anton keeps travelling all the time?”

  Serafina nodded. “I suppose it must be, though he never said so, or even allowed me to read it from his mind.”

  “But why does she want him?” Rufus asked. This was something to which Viviana hadn’t thought to make him privy.

  “You remember Anton told you about von Dunkel?” Rufus nodded. “Well, Viviana was his creator. He was the love of her life, according to her, and she wants revenge on Anton for killing him.”

  “After all this time?”

  “Yes. I truly believe she’s mad, Rufus, perhaps from losing her lover, perhaps from having lived for so long, or perhaps she was always mad. I don’t think she even cares about the reason any more. She’s sworn to have revenge, and she won’t stop until she succeeds.”

  A wave of horror engulfed Rufus as he thought of his part in Viviana’s plan. He pushed the thought down into the deepest reaches of his mind and smiled at Serafina. “It’s almost dawn now. We should sleep. Time enough tonight to think about Viviana.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  When Rufus woke just after sunset, Serafina was still asleep. He propped himself up on one elbow and gazed at her mask-like face. Her skin had the smooth, waxen quality of a mannequin or an embalmed body. Once, this would have horrified him. Now it was just another phase of the vampire’s daily cycle. He knew he looked the same when he slept.

  When Serafina woke, they dressed and went out to hunt. Serafina was eager to resume old, familiar habits.

  “I missed the hunting,” she told Rufus, her voice wistful. “Feeding is about so much more than just drinking blood.”

  Perhaps not to the likes of Viviana, Rufus thought, but he said nothing to Serafina.

  On reaching town, they made their way to the harbour. A ship had lately berthed at the New Wharf, and Serafina drew one of its crewmen to her, handing him over to Rufus as soon as he was suitably compliant. Rufus, half afraid that Serafina might be stolen away from him again, despite Viviana’s promise, kept her close to him as he drank fresh blood tinged with rum from the young sailor. Afterwards, he kissed Serafina with bloodstained lips, almost swooning with delight at the sensation of her tongue lapping up the blood there.

  They walked further along the harbour side and Rufus found another sailor for Serafina, watching as she fed, his mind linked with hers so he could enjoy her pleasure as she had enjoyed his. Afterwards, she came to him and kissed him with her blood-reddened lips.

  “Come,” she murmured against his mouth. “Let’s go home.”

  In the hallway, Rufus turned to Serafina in the darkness that was filled with the rich light and colour of their vampiric sight, pulled her into his arms and kissed her again. The blood ecstasy was flooding his body and mind with the most delectable sensations, and it seemed every part of his being was filled with Serafina – her scent, her taste, the touch of her body, and her mind joined with his. Together they hurried up the stairs and into their room, their fingers tugging at buttons and ties with a mixture of impatience and laughter. Their lovemaking was passionate and fierce, as if they must re-establish their claim on one another.

  Afterwards, Serafina said, “I felt your fear, Rufus, when I was feeding.”

  “I’m afraid every moment that Viviana might snatch you away again. I know she said she had no more use for you, but what if she changes her mind?”

  Serafina was silent for some moments, then she said, “There might be a way to protect ourselves from her.” She told him how Viviana had starved her and then fed her with her own blood to bind her to her. “Perhaps we might do something similar with each other.”

  “Do you really think it’ll work?”

  “I think so, especially now I’m free of Viviana’s control. As her blood bound me to her, so our blood in each other will bind us together and strengthen our protection against her. Come, give me your wrist.”

  Rufus felt the blood ecstasy rise in him again. “No,” he whispered, and offered his neck.

  Serafina smiled and pulled him towards her. “I love you so much,” she whispered, and touched her lips to the vein he presented.

  A wave of excitement rushed through Rufus as he saw Serafina’s fangs grow long and sharp, and heard her sigh of longing, of reverence for his gift of blood. He closed his eyes and gave himself up to the intertwining sensations of pain and ecstasy as her fangs pierced his flesh and she drew his blood into her mouth, her lips cool and soft as they moved with a soft rhythm against his skin. After a few minutes, she withdrew, licking at the wound she had made. She lifted her dark hair with one hand and pulled it back to expose her neck. Her eyes were like black opals with rainbow fires glowing in their depths. Rufus felt the familiar tingling sensation as his fangs emerged. Just for a moment, he held back, gazing at her white neck with its delicate tracery of veins. It seemed almost a pity to sully it. But he felt Serafina in his mind, felt her excitement as she urged him on, and he bent and plunged his fangs into a vein, all but overcome with elation as her blood spurted into his mouth. It was cooler than human blood, but more complex, somehow, and more delicate on his palate.

  All at once, Serafina pulled away from him with a hiss of anger. “Rufus, how could you do such a thing? To betray your own kin?”

  Gasping from the shock of her sudden withdrawal, Rufus stared at her in horror. “Oh, God, no! Serafina, I—I didn’t—”

  “You did!” Serafina’s voice was little more than a whisper, but it seared Rufus like hot iron. “I felt it! I heard it! You’ve betrayed Anton—betrayed us—to that creature! What did she promise you, Rufus? What prize did you take for giving Anton to her?”

  Unable to meet her furious gaze, Rufus stared down at his tightly clenched hands. “I—I didn’t want to. I couldn’t help…Serafina, you of all people know how powerful she is.”

  “Don’t make excuses! You didn’t have to live with her! She didn’t make you drink her blood!” Serafina leapt from the bed and practically flung herself across the room as though unable to bear being close to Rufus. “How could I have trusted you? How could I have been so stupid as to love you, to believe you loved me? I defied Anton for your sake, and this is how you repay me!”

  She had had her back turned to Rufus. Now she wheeled about and ran at him, raining blows on his head and shoulders, snarling like a wild cat, her fangs growing sharp, not with hunger but with rage. His hands raised in an attempt to ward off her blows, Rufus tried to roll away from her. She crawled after him on all fours, reaching out to grasp him with clawed hands, her lips drawn back from her fangs, her eyes burning like hot coals. Panic held him immobilised as she clawed her way up his body, her fingernails leaving long, bloody streaks on his skin. Then his own anger began to bubble up from somewhere deep inside him. He felt it grow hotter and hotter until it boiled over like hot lava from a volcano. With all his strength, he thrust Serafina off.

  “You want to know Viviana’s price?” he flung at her. “It was you, Serafina! It was the only way I could get you away from her.” His voice rasped in his throat, and hot tears rose in his eyes.

  As Serafina stared at him, at first in angry disbelief, and then in horror, Rufus explained how he had crept up to Viviana’s house and seen Serafina and the young Maori, how Viviana had spoken to him through Elizabeth, and what had led him to make his devil’s bargain with her.

  “I did it because I love you, Serafina, and I was afraid of what else she might do to you. She said I’d never see you again if I didn’t do what she wanted. And I couldn’t bear that, Serafina. I sim
ply couldn’t bear it! Even if you want other men, I’ll try to accept it as long as I can have at least a little of your love.” His voice sank to a whisper. “I didn’t want to betray Anton, but I can’t live without you.”

  For a long time, Serafina was silent, staring at her hands as they twisted at the bedclothes. When she looked up at Rufus, there were tears in her eyes. “Oh, Rufus, forgive me! I should have known. After all, I brought you across for love, because I couldn’t bear to be without you. And I don’t want anyone else but you, I promise. I confess that I did, once…” Serafina lowered her eyes again, and took a deep breath. “But it was only because my mind wasn’t my own. It was after Viviana had starved me and fed me with her blood to make me her creature. She sent others to me because I needed more blood than she was willing to give me, and one of them was her favourite, a Maori called Tamati, and—oh, please don’t hate me, Rufus! I was so carried away by the blood ecstasy that I…and she was in my mind, experiencing him through me! As soon as I realised what was happening I made him stop, I swear it! But what you saw at her house the other night didn’t happen. Please believe me, it was just something Viviana put into your mind to torment you.”

  “Oh, Serafina, my poor darling! How could I blame you for that monster’s depravity?”

  He held out his arms and Serafina crept into them, and they clung to each other in silence for a long time.

  At length, Serafina said, “We’ve both fallen into her power, Rufus, but we mustn’t give in to it again. Somehow, we’re going to have to find another way of dealing with her.”

  “Dealing with whom, might I ask?” a familiar voice said from the open doorway.

  Rufus and Serafina turned to see Springer standing there in his topcoat, his hat in one hand, his silver-topped cane in the other.

  “Anton!” Serafina, heedless of her nakedness, rushed across the room and flung herself into Springer’s arms.

  “I’ve missed you, too, my dear, but is this any way to greet me, almost knocking me off my feet? And please, I beg of you, cover yourself up.” Springer turned away from her as though in embarrassment, but the warmth in his eyes belied his admonishment. “I’ll wait for you in the parlour.”

  Serafina threw on her dressing gown and raced downstairs. Rufus followed suit, but more slowly, wondering how he was going to tell Springer about his promise to Viviana. He didn’t for a moment imagine he could keep it from him. He found Springer standing by the fireplace, his arm around Serafina’s shoulders.

  Springer inclined his head in greeting. “Good evening, Rufus, I trust you’re well?”

  “Yes, thank you. Welcome home. I hope your business went well.”

  “Oh, well enough, thank you. And how goes the gambling? I dare say you’re a wealthy man by now.”

  Rufus, doing his best to erase all thoughts of Viviana, said, “Oh no, I haven’t dared to win too much, for fear of gaining notoriety.”

  Springer smiled his icy smile, his pale eyes seeming to penetrate to Rufus’s heart, but all he said was, “We’ll have a glass of wine and a chat presently. Right now, I need to change out of these clothes and wash away the grime of travel. These modern steamships may be fast, but they’re downright filthy to sail in!” With a slight, formal bow, he turned and made for the staircase.

  Rufus and Serafina seated themselves on the settee. For some time, neither of them spoke. Then Rufus said in a whisper, as though afraid Springer might hear him, “He knows already, doesn’t he?”

  Serafina nodded. “Oh, yes, it wouldn’t have been possible to keep it from him.”

  Rufus quailed inwardly. “No, I suppose not.”

  Serafina squeezed his hand. “I dare say he’ll understand,” she murmured, though Rufus found little comfort in either words or gesture.

  “Understand what?” came Springer’s voice from the doorway. Serafina and Rufus both gave a guilty start. Springer, wearing his dressing gown over shirt and trousers, strolled across to the sideboard. “A little wine, I think.” His voice was bland, but his eyes were as cold and as sharp as icicles. He took Rufus and Serafina their glasses, and they accepted them in silence. “Now,” he said, seating himself in his favourite armchair. “A toast. To understanding, yes?” He sipped his wine, gazing at them both over the rim of his glass before focusing on Rufus. “I take it you intended telling me at some point,” he said at last, “or did you really think you could keep it a secret from me? Even you should know better than that by now.”

  Serafina glared at him, placing a protective arm around Rufus’s shoulders. “If you’d been here, you might have stopped her, but no, your wretched business deals were more important.”

  Springer pursed his lips. “Without my ‘wretched business deals’, we’d all be a great deal poorer. And if it was, perhaps, unwise of me to leave you as I did, you could have come with me, you know, both of you. You were the ones who insisted on staying here.”

  “Only because you didn’t see fit to tell us we were in danger!” Serafina snarled at him, her eyes flashing. “How could you do that, Anton, when you must have known full well what she’s like? Well, so much for family!”

  She spat out the last word through bared teeth. For a moment, Rufus thought she was going to hurl her wine glass at Springer. Instead, she flung it across the room, where it shattered against the fireplace. Then she burst into tears. Rufus put his arms around her and held her against his shoulder as she sobbed. He fixed Springer with an angry stare.

  Springer hurried to kneel beside Serafina, stroking her hair with a gentle hand. “Please forgive me, my dear. I thought it was only me she wished to harm. I had no idea she’d try and get to me through you, much less through Rufus.”

  “Do you mean to tell me,” said Rufus, his voice frigid with anger, “that in all the years you’ve carted Serafina about the world willy-nilly, you never thought to tell her why?”

  “Mea culpa, I’m afraid.” For the first time since Rufus had met him, Springer seemed discomfited, his voice very low, his eyes staring across the room. “At first, before I brought Serafina across, I felt it would frighten her unnecessarily to tell her why I must be always on the move. How could I tell her Viviana was hunting me to exact revenge for killing one of her kin, especially when she still went in fear of her uncle? Afterwards, to my shame, I just didn’t know how to tell her. It’s not as though I felt proud of what I’d done to von Dunkel, and I genuinely believed that if I could outrun Viviana for long enough, she’d give up trying to find me. I thought I’d been successful until she turned up in Dublin, where we were staying at the time. As soon as I realised she was there, we slipped across to England and took the first ship I could find to the South Pacific, where I already had one or two business interests that needed my attention. I finally realised, when she followed me here to Auckland, just how wrong I’d been. That’s why I was so insistent that you both come to Australia with me. I knew it would be no more than a short-term remedy, but at least if you were with me I might have some chance of protecting you. But when Serafina was so adamant that she wanted to stay here, I’m afraid I persuaded myself that as long as I was out of the picture, the two of you would be safe. I know now just what a forlorn hope that was.”

  “But why didn’t you kill Viviana long ago?” Rufus demanded. “It’s not as though the concept was new to you, not after von Dunkel, not to mention your years in the army.”

  Springer gave a thin smile. “True, though as I said before, von Dunkel’s death, at least, was scarcely a matter of pride to me. Besides, Viviana is not so easily killed. She’s managed to survive for over a thousand years – no mean feat, even for a vampire – and she has powers you could scarcely imagine, Rufus, and little compunction about using them.”

  “Yes, I’ve had my own insight into that,” Rufus’s voice was grim as he recalled his recent encounter, “as I dare say you already know. But you should have told Serafina. She deserved that much, surely?”

  “Yes,” Springer admitted, “she did, and I truly
wish I’d handled things differently. All I can offer by way of excuse is that my long years in the army had taught me to be secretive. In war, it can be fatal to be too open, to admit too much.”

  “You still should have told me,” Serafina said, raising her head from Rufus’s shoulder. “You could have taught me how to protect myself from her.”

  “I’m not sure there is a way to protect oneself from the likes of Viviana. Wherever she goes, she gathers around her slaves made willing by her mind control to defend her to the death. Once upon a time, they were other vampires, for she was as indiscriminate in creating family as she was in satisfying her other appetites. But there are fewer of us, now. Despite our potential immortality, our lives are precarious enough that most of us don’t reach five centuries, let alone a millennium. Besides, under her control, humans can achieve much of what vampires can, and are far more expendable, from her point of view. Why do you suppose she keeps those strong young men?”

  “Well, from what Serafina told me—” began Rufus.

  “Oh, that as well,” said Springer with a harsh laugh. “Viviana was brought across in less, shall we say, civilised times than we enjoy today, and as I said, she’s never seen the need to control any of her appetites. By now, the demands of her blood ecstasy are as strong and as constant as her hunger for blood.”

  Serafina gave an involuntary shudder, recalling Viviana’s lascivious enjoyment of her mindless coupling with Tamati. Rufus squeezed her shoulder in a gesture of sympathy.

  “But she also keeps them to defend her, controlling their minds rather than engaging, herself, in the grubbier aspects of conflict.”

  “But if she’s as powerful as you say,” Rufus said, “why does she need anyone to fight for her? Why did she force me to…?” His voice trailed away as he realised what he was about to say, and he stared fearfully at Springer.

  “To betray me to her?” Springer’s voice showed sadness rather than anger. “She enjoys controlling people, Rufus. If she could, she’d bring the entire world under her sway, and even that would probably seem insufficient before long.”